1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an unfoldable wing which is extendable from an airborne body, wherein the wing includes a nose spar which has one end segment thereof pivotable about a bearing axis which is located on the airborne body, and a motive arrangement equipped with an energy accumulator or storage for effectuating the extension of the nose spar about the associated bearing axis.
In connection with an airborne body of that type, it must be understood that this includes; for example, a rocket which is started from a launch tube or a projectile which is to be fired from a weapon barrel, whereby the airborne body possesses a plurality of such types of unfoldable wings which are outwardly extendable, and which in their initial or stored position lie against the airborne body, and which are first outwardly extended and unfolded from the airborne body subsequent to their exiting from the launch tube or weapon barrel, in order to achieve a stabilizing of the trajectory for the airborne body.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the disclosure of German Patent 34 32 614 A1 there is described an airborne body with outwardly extendable wings, whereby a motive device which is equipped with an energy accumulator for the extension of the wing, or each one of the wings, possesses a compressed gas container which is fluidally connected through the intermediary of a conduit with an inflatable member. In essence, the inflatable member can be readily space-savingly or compactly arranged in the interior of the airborne body in the inactive initial condition thereof, but on the other hand, there are encountered the conditions with regard to the compressed gas container. This container necessitates the provision for an amount of space which is not negligible and which reduces the proportion of the payload for the airborne body. With consideration being given to the fact that the inflatable member, in the activated condition of the airborne equipment, itself also presents a certain requirement for space, which must already be previously available, there is obtained a further reduction in the proportionate volume of the payload for such a type of airborne body.
The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,441, which is commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, describes a submunition-airborne body with unfoldable glide wings, which are fastened to the fuselage of the airborne body so as to be outwardly extendable from grooves extending generally in parallel with the longitudinal axis of the airborne body. In that instance, the grooves are formed in attachments each for receiving, respectively, a retracted glide wing without requiring any access into the interior of the fuselage, and wherein the attachments extend radially away from the casing surface of the fuselage of the airborne body. A construction of that kind would be rational when a plurality of submunition-airborne bodies would be arranged within a carrier for such submunitions, inasmuch as it would then be rationally possible to utilize the dead space which is existent between the submunition-airborne bodies and the submunition-carrier by the attachments which project away from the fuselage of the airborne body, and in which attachments there are located the wings in their retracted condition. As a consequence of the presence of the attachments, within which the wings for the airborne body are located when retracted, such a type of airborne body is neither adapted nor is it contemplated to be started from a launch tube in the manner of a rocket, or to be fired per se as a projectile from a weapon barrel.